This Ain't A Fairytale
by starlight.moon.princess
Summary: All her life, Hermione's dreamed of a fairytale perfect love-life. But by the time she reaches sixth year, a fairytale is the last thing it is :: Romione, Ginny, Harry, and keeping faith in a happy ending :: Canon


**For Camp Potter (Fireworks Show - write something inspired by the lyrics _"I've been waiting for someone like you, but now you are slipping away. Why? Why does fate make us suffer?"_- Within Temptation 'What Have You Done'); Fanfiction, School of Creativity and Imagination (Essay - write a fic inspired by the quote _"Where love is concerned, too much is not even enough"_ – Pierre Beaumarchais); the If You Dare Challenge (499. Rubbed Raw); the Song Fic Boot Camp (song: 'White Horse,' Taylor Swift; 18. Mione); the Legendary Gods and Goddesses Competition (Tsukuyomi no Mikoto) and the Popular Song competition (Don't Wake Me Up).**

**This piece was heavily inspired by Taylor Swift's White Horse, specifically, the line _'Cause I'm not your princess, this ain't a__ fairytale._The song is also the inspiration for the title.**

_For Empress, who both inspired this and seems to be the only one capable of getting me to write Romione. I'm sorry this is so late!_

* * *

When she was a little girl, she had always dreamed about princes on white horses and knights in shining armour. She knew she wasn't a princess, but that shouldn't mean that she didn't get her own fairytale.

And then she turned eleven, and she got a letter telling her that she was _magic_. By that time, she was well on her way to becoming the girl who would be known as the smartest witch of her generation, but that didn't stop all those childish dreams of being rescued by her true love from coming back to her. After all, she was going to go live in a _castle_ and learn to cast _spells_ – that meant that the fairytale wasn't such a distant dream at all.

She met Harry Potter, and wondered if he was going to be her prince. He'd already defeated a Dark Lord – he was well on his way to being a fairytale hero already. But she was only eleven, and falling in love would have to wait until she grew up a bit more.

She turned fourteen, and went and fell in love. She didn't give up on the dreams of a white horse and a knight in shining armour, even though she knew that if she wanted that, she should have fallen in love with Harry. But the heart wants what the heart wants, and he wasn't the best friend Hermione Granger fell for.

For two years, she loved Ron Weasley desperately, hoping and praying that he would see her as more than his best friend, as a girl instead of just one of the boys.

Sixth year happened, and she actually thought they were going somewhere.

* * *

"Hermione?" Ginny called, walking into the sixth-year girls' dormitory. "Parvati said you were shrieking…" She broke off at the sight of her best friend, sitting on her bed with a smile a mile wide.

Ginny felt a smile start to form on her own face, her concern melting away at the sight of Hermione's evident glee.

"What happened?" she asked, nearly bouncing towards Hermione in an effort to reach her quicker.

"I think," Hermione whispered gleefully as Ginny sat down next to her, "I think I might have a date with Ron!" By the last words, her voice had risen to an excited shriek, and Ginny joined as soon as the words were out of her mouth.

"Oh my god!" Ginny squealed. "Did he _finally_ get off his arse and ask you out?"

Hermione shook her head, still grinning. "No! _I_ did!"

"Oh Merlin, tell me everything _now_!" Ginny said in a rush of words.

"We were talking about Slughorn's Christmas party, and I told him I was thinking of asking him to go with me, and he said he would!"

Ginny shrieked in happiness at the news, Hermione joining quickly after her.

It looked like her dreams of a fairytale ending were finally coming true.

* * *

"Hermione! There you are!" Ginny's voice made her turn around sharply.

"Oh hi, Ginny," she smiled, waiting for the running girl to reach up to her.

"Good, I caught up to you," she huffed. "Do you mind waiting for a bit before returning to the Common Room?"

Hermione looked her, noticing the tight lines around her lips and the anger in her eyes that she was obviously holding in. "Of course," she said concernedly. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Ginny said. "It's just…I really need to talk before I can return to the party."

"We'll take a walk? You can tell me then…"

She walked around with Ginny for nearly half an hour before the other girl felt calm enough to return to the Common Room.

"That's enough about my problem," Ginny said as they started to return to Gryffindor Tower. "Why don't you tell me about what's going on with you and my brother?"

"I don't know…" Hermione said, sounding worried. "I'm not sure he's very happy with me, to be honest, especially after what happened this morning…"

"What happened?" Ginny asked, her voice alarmed.

"It's nothing, I guess," Hermione said, walking towards the portrait hole. "Abstinence," she told the Fat Lady. Walking down the steps, she said, "I'll tell you-"

"Hermione?" Ginny asked, walking towards the girl. She had broken off in the middle of her statement and was standing in the entrance, shocked silent. "What happ-" Ginny broke off too; catching sight of what Hermione was looking at. "Oh," she said weakly.

There, right in front of them, was the person that they had been talking about. Ron Weasley was sitting in the middle of the common room, celebrating; only it wasn't with a bottle of Butterbeer and a plate full of sweets. Instead, he had Lavender Brown on his lap, and it was looking like it the two of them would pass out from the lack of oxygen before they stopped snogging enthusiastically.

'I- I have to go," Hermione finally said in a rush. "I can't be- I'm sorry Ginny," she said, turning to face her friend. "You played wonderfully today, but I can't-"

"I understand," Ginny said, interrupting her. "Do you want me to come with you? I can beat some sense into his head if that's what you want…"

"No," Hermione said, shaking her head. "Let him be. I guess he's made his choice, and- Anyways. I'll talk to you later; I just need some time to myself right now."

"Okay," Ginny murmured, looking worried for her friend. She watched Hermione nearly fly out of the Common Room in tears, before turning to look at her brother. "That _moron_," she muttered to herself, stalking towards him.

* * *

Maybe her fairytale was never meant to be.

She had always thought that if her love was true, if she loved enough, Ron would be hers, especially since he seemed to return her feelings. But she knew the truth now. No matter how much she loved him, he'd never see her as more than his best friend.

She knew he loved her. He did, he loved her with all his heart, but she was greedy. She wanted more of his love, she wanted him to love her the way she loved him, not as a friend.

But…She couldn't change it. She knew that. He didn't love her, and as hard as it was, she was going to have to accept that. And maybe she could have managed to do that, but she just couldn't understand why he wanted to flaunt Lavender in front of him. He _knew_ she had feelings for him! She hadn't exactly been subtle about it, and besides, she had asked him out, hadn't she?

Well, she'd show him. It was obvious that he wouldn't be accompanying her to Slughorn's Christmas party, but there was no way she'd go alone. She'd find someone else, someone _better_ than him, someone who would annoy him and hopefully – and she hated her treacherous heart for thinking like that – someone who would make him see what he was missing out on. Someone who might just make him realise that he loved her too.

* * *

"Hermione, are you sure about this?" Harry asked her with a frown on his face. He'd cornered her in the library, and refused to let her out of his sight until she answered all his questions.

"Of course I am, Harry," she replied, irritated by the way he was tailing her. "Could you stop following me around please? I do know what I'm doing, you know…"

"To be honest, I'm not really sure you do Hermione," Harry said, still mulishly refusing to budge. "This is _McLaggen_! You were the one who confounded him because he was acting horrid towards Ron and Ginny, and now you're going on a date with him to Slughorn's party? Are you _insane_?"

"Harry…"

"Look, I know you want to get back at Ron," Harry said, interrupting her. "And I don't have anything against that, really. It's just that – McLaggen, _really_? You could have gone with anyone else? Hell, even _Smith_ would have been better! It's not too late to go back to that plan, you know. Smith'll annoy him just as much!"

Hermione sighed. It was obvious that she was going to have to talk to him before he even thought about leaving her alone. "Harry, trust me," she said, turning to face him. "I promise you I know what I'm doing."

Harry searched her face. "Alright," she sounded doubtfully, convinced at least slightly by what she saw in his face. "But you'll forgive me if I say _I told you so_ if this becomes a complete mess right?"

"Of course," Hermione said, flashing him a smile. "Now, I'll try and say this nicely: leave me alone _please_? I need to get this essay done!"

"Fine, fine," Harry said, a faint smile on his face as he turned away and started to walk out.

As soon as Harry was out of her line of sight, Hermione felt the smile on her face slip away. She might have sounded confident when she was talking to Harry, but the truth was, she had absolutely no idea what she was doing. All she knew was that she wanted Ron to feel what she had when she had seen him in the Common Room, and his reaction to the news that she was going to the party with Cormac had at least wiped the smirk right off his face.

Maybe she had been right – maybe he did feel the same way as she did. But that wasn't something she knew for sure. For all she knew, her desire for a fairytale ending was getting in the way of what the fact were telling her.

'Hermione!" Ginny's whisper broke her out of her thoughts.

"Ginny! What are you doing here? I thought you had a class right now!"

"It's only History of Magic," Ginny said dismissively. "It's not like he's going to notice that I'm missing anyways. Anyways, that's not important. I wanted to talk to you."

Hermione looked at Ginny for a long moment, before finally deciding that it would useless to debate the fact that she was missing a class with her.

"Alright," she said, "What happened?"

"Not here," Ginny replied, pulling Hermione to a table at the back of the library. "I need to make sure we're not interrupted by anyone."

"Ginny…"

Ginny hesitated for a moment as she looked at Hermione, before finally opening her mouth. "Hermione…about Ron…"

"Ginny-"

"No, just let me talk, please," Ginny said, interrupting Hermione. "Look, I know you're just about ready to give up on him, and the way he's been acting, no one would blame you, put please don't! I know he loves you too, Mione, he's just an idiot."

"Ginny…" Hermione said, struggling to get her thoughts in order, "Look, I think I've just been fooling myself by thinking he cares. If he did, he wouldn't be acting this way with Lavender, would he? I don't know…"

"It's all my fault!" Ginny blurted. "I know why he's doing this, and I'm _so sorry_!"

"Ginny," Hermione said, looking suspiciously at the younger girl, "What do you know about this?"

"You remember what I talked to you about before we went to the Common Room that night, right?" Ginny asked miserably. At Hermione's nod, she continued, "I might have mentioned something about you snogging Krum to him. I know, I know you didn't," she said, correctly interpreting her friend's outraged look, "But I was just so angry and I just wanted to hurt him! I promise you I didn't know what he was going to do!"

"Ginny," Hermione started, before pausing, struggling to say anything at all.

"At least it proves he loves you!" Ginny exclaimed. "The only reason he's doing all this is because he's jealous!"

Hermione sighed, before reaching for Ginny's hand. "I'm still not happy about what you said," she warned, "But I can't stay angry with you for too long, so…I'll keep trying."

The depressed look on Ginny's face changed to a wide smile within a moment, and she threw her arms around Hermione. "Thank you!" she squealed in a low voice, making sure Madam Pince didn't hear the two of them. "I promise you won't regret this!"

Hermione let out a low laugh, hugging Ginny back. Before she could say anything, the bell signifying the end of the lecture rang with a loud clang.

"I have to go," Ginny said hurriedly, disentangling herself from her best friend. "I have McGonagall, and there's no way I can be late."

Hermione watched the red-head walk out of the library, bag swinging behind her. Ginny may have been a large part of the reason that she found herself in this mess, but she had also made her see everything that had happened in a completely new light. Her love-life may not have been the fairytale she imagined it would be when she started Hogwarts, but all of a sudden, she was okay with it.

Ron may not have been the prince on a white horse she had dreamed of, but considering the fact that she wasn't a princess, it was alright – he didn't need to be one for her to be in love with him. And the fact that he was hers was more than enough for her, and she wasn't one to let him slip through her fingers.

Lavender Brown might think that she had Ron all to herself, but she would do well to prepare herself for a fight, because Hermione Granger was not going down so easily.


End file.
